Anime Vanguards How to Evolve Dio, Luffy & Sukuna

Evolving Dio into his final form is one of the most rewarding grinds in Anime Vanguards, because he jumps from a mid-tier damage dealer into a screen-clearing powerhouse once his evolution quest is complete. This guide breaks down the exact evolution items you need, the materials you should farm in parallel, and the fastest path to push Dio, Gear 5 Luffy, and Sukuna all the way to their top-tier forms without wasting hours on dead-end stages.

Why Evolution Matters in Anime Vanguards

Evolution is the single biggest power spike you can give a unit in Anime Vanguards, because base units are intentionally tuned as placeholders. A five-star Dio in his pre-evolution state deals roughly 30 to 40 percent less damage than the same unit after he completes his evolution quest, and the gap widens further on tanky World and Infinite modes. Players who skip the evolution line end up replacing their roster every few patches, while players who commit to a few key evo paths keep their core team relevant across multiple updates.

The developer also gates several story chapters and event raids behind evolved unit requirements, so evolving Dio or Sukuna is not just a damage optimization. According to community data collected on the official Anime Vanguards YouTube channel, most late-game content assumes you have at least two fully evolved units on your frontline. If you want a broader look at the evo economy before committing, the Anime Vanguards evolution guide covers the universal requirements like level caps, star thresholds, and the evo tokens that every quest uses.

Numbers above come from player-reported tests on Infinite mode, where evolved units consistently clear waves two to three stages earlier than their base forms. The exact percentages shift with each balance patch, but the power gap never closes, because evolutions add new mechanics rather than just raw stats.

Universal Evolution Requirements You Must Clear First

Before any specific quest for Dio, Luffy, or Sukuna can even start, your unit has to meet three baseline requirements. Missing any one of them will block the evolution NPC from offering the quest, even if you have every material in your inventory.

Level and Star Thresholds

Every evolvable unit must be level 80 and at least five stars before the evolution menu unlocks. You can promote a four-star unit to five stars using duplicate copies from the banner, which is why most players reroll their starter banner until they get at least one duplicate of their evolution target. If you do not have a spare copy, the Anime Vanguards evo tier list ranks which units are worth promoting with rare star-up materials, since you generally want to spend those on units that have a strong post-evo form.

Evolution Tokens and Currency

Each evo quest costs a flat Evo Token plus a chunk of gold that scales with the unit rarity. The token is a universal item that drops from the daily Evolution Raid, so logging in every day for two weeks is usually enough to stockpile three to four tokens. Gold is the slower bottleneck, because evolved Dio alone costs roughly 250,000 gold to complete, and most players hit the gold wall before the material wall. Farming the Infinite gold stage with a maxed carry unit is the fastest way to stockpile, and the Anime Vanguards yen farm guide covers which team comps pull the most gold per minute.

Evolution Items vs. Evolution Materials

The terms get used interchangeably in chat, but they are technically two different categories. Evolution items are the named quest pieces, such as Dio's Stand Arrow or Sukuna's Cursed Finger, and they only drop inside that unit's specific evo stage. Evolution materials are the generic crafting components, like Spirit Shards, Cursed Bones, and Star Fragments, that you farm in shared stages and use across multiple evo quests. Treating them as the same thing leads to frustration, because players will burn their Spirit Shards on Dio's quest and then have none left for Luffy's.

How to Evolve Dio: Step-by-Step Path

Dio's evolution quest is widely considered the friendliest starting point, because his evo stage is short and his material list overlaps with Sukuna's. If you have never evolved a unit before, Dio is the safest first pick, since his pre-evo form is already viable enough to clear the farm stages you need for the other two.

Phase 1: Pre-Evo Setup

Promote Dio to five stars, level him to 80, and place him in your active squad so the Evolution NPC can register him. You will also want to clear the World 3 chapter, because Dio's evo stage is locked behind a World 3 story node. Most players hit this naturally while progressing the campaign, but if you skipped ahead on someone else's account, go back and clear the gate before wasting stamina on the material stage.

Phase 2: Farming Dio's Evolution Items

Dio needs four named pieces, and three of them drop at a 15 to 20 percent rate from the dedicated evo stage. Expect to run the stage 20 to 30 times for a clean clear, although the drop rate improves if you bring a friend with a boosted drop unit. The pieces are:

• Stand Arrow — the key item that triggers Dio's evolution

• Knife Bouquet — cosmetic, but required by the quest script

• Mysterious Watch — used in Dio's evolution cutscene

• Blood Vial — final evolution material

Phase 3: Finishing the Quest

Once you have all four items plus the Evo Token and gold, return to the Evolution NPC and hand them in. The quest is fully scripted and auto-completes, so there is no boss fight at the end, just a short cutscene and a stat boost. You will end up with The World Dio, a unit that gains a time-stop active skill and a lifesteal passive that makes him much harder to kill in long Infinite runs.

How to Evolve Gear 5 Luffy: Step-by-Step Path

Gear 5 Luffy's evolution is the most material-heavy of the three, and it is the one where players most often run out of Spirit Shards before finishing. Because his evo stage shares a Spirit Realm farm with two other top-tier units, you want to plan the grind alongside the Anime Vanguards Gear 5 Luffy unit page so you do not waste runs on a build that is about to get patched.

Phase 1: Building the Pre-Evo Form

Luffy's pre-evo form, Gear Fourth Luffy, is unlocked at five stars but only after you clear the Dressrosa story arc in World 4. The arc itself is short, but the prerequisite for Gear Fifth requires you to defeat the World 4 boss three times, so budget about an hour of focused play. Make sure you bring a maxed Dio as a carry, because the boss has a damage-reflect phase that punishes under-leveled units.

Phase 2: Farming Luffy's Evolution Items

Luffy needs five named pieces, and unlike Dio, two of them have a 10 percent or lower drop rate. The rare piece is the Drum Kingdom Drum, which is the actual visual transform item for the Gear Fifth form. Expect to spend 40 to 50 runs on the dedicated stage if you have no drop boosters active. The full list:

• Drum Kingdom Drum — key visual transform item

• Rubber Bald Head — cosmetic but required

• Nika's Smile — visual emblem for the final form

• Liberation Will — passive unlock item

• Pirate King Straw — final evolution material

Phase 3: Material Cross-Farming

Luffy's evolution consumes roughly 80 Spirit Shards, which is twice the average for a five-star unit. Spirit Shards drop from the shared Spirit Realm stage, and you can dual-farm them while you are also farming Sukuna's Cursed Bones, because both stages share a stamina cost. A typical grinding session looks like 10 Spirit Realm runs followed by 10 Cursed Dungeon runs, and most players can clear the full Luffy material list in about three days of focused play.

How to Evolve Sukuna: Step-by-Step Path

Sukuna's evolution is the most expensive of the three, both in gold and in Cursed Bones, but it is also the most overpowered once it lands. Evolved Sukuna hits a wide cone that scales with his max HP, which makes him one of the few units that can clear late Infinite waves without support.

Phase 1: Unlocking the Evo Gate

Sukuna's evolution is gated behind a Cursed Dungeon side quest that only opens after you clear the Shibuya arc in World 5. The arc is the longest in the current patch, and it has a hard difficulty spike at the Jogo boss, so bring a maxed Dio or a fully evolved Luffy as your carry. If you are still early in the campaign, focus on World 4 first and come back to Sukuna later, because trying to evolve him with a starter roster is a stamina trap.

Phase 2: Farming Sukuna's Evolution Items

Sukuna needs six named pieces, and four of them have a 12 to 18 percent drop rate. The rarest is the King of Curses Tooth, which has a confirmed 8 percent drop rate and is the bottleneck for most players. The full list:

• King of Curses Tooth — key visual transform item

• Cursed Finger — passive unlock item

• Malevolent Shrine Fragment — active skill unlock

• Cleave Mark — visual emblem

• Reverse Curse Technique Scroll — passive unlock

• Black Flash Spark — final evolution material

Phase 3: Material and Gold Grind

Sukuna's evolution consumes roughly 100 Cursed Bones and 400,000 gold, which is why most players evolve Sukuna last. Cursed Bones drop from the shared Cursed Dungeon, and the drop rate doubles during Cursed Event weekends, so timing your grind around the event calendar is the single biggest optimization you can make. The table below shows a realistic timeline for a player who is running the Cursed Dungeon at 70 stamina per clear.

Best Units to Evolve Alongside These Three

Because evolution materials are shared, the order in which you evolve Dio, Luffy, and Sukuna matters. If you evolve Luffy first, you will already be 60 percent of the way to Sukuna's material list, and if you evolve Sukuna first, you will be roughly halfway to Luffy's. The optimal grind order based on community data is Dio first (cheapest), Luffy second (sets up Sukuna materials), and Sukuna last (most expensive but most rewarding).

If you are deciding whether to spend your Evo Tokens on a fourth unit, the Anime Vanguards best evo units ranking breaks down which other top-tier units are worth your token. The short version is that evolving Dio, Gear 5 Luffy, and Sukuna covers the three main team roles — single-target DPS, AoE clear, and boss shred — so adding a fourth evolution is usually lower priority than maxing those three first.

Fastest Path to All Three Final Forms

If you are starting from zero and want all three units evolved within two weeks, the most efficient routine is to spend the first three days farming Dio's named items while running Spirit Realm and Cursed Dungeon in the background. Once Dio is evolved, swap him into your carry slot and use the boost to speed-run Luffy's named item stage. By day seven, you should have Luffy evolved and roughly half of Sukuna's Cursed Bones banked. Spend days eight through twelve grinding Sukuna's named items during a Cursed Event weekend, and finish with a final two days of gold farming to cover the 400k Sukuna quest cost.

This timeline assumes you are logging in daily for the Evolution Raid and using a friend carry for the harder story gates. If you can only play on weekends, double the timeline and prioritize Cursed Event weekends for Sukuna's grind, because that is when the bone drop rate doubles and your stamina goes roughly twice as far. The key is to overlap the three grinds rather than treating them as separate projects, because every named item stage also drops a small amount of the shared evolution materials.

Frequently Asked Questions

What level does Dio need to be before he can evolve in Anime Vanguards?

Dio must reach level 80 and be promoted to five stars before the Evolution NPC offers his quest. If he is below level 80, the NPC will give you a generic "not ready" dialog and the quest will not register, even if you have all the materials in your bag. Level Dio up using the standard EXP stage and make sure his star count is at five before you start the grind.

Can I evolve Gear 5 Luffy without clearing the Dressrosa arc first?

No, the Drum Kingdom Drum and the rest of Luffy's named items are gated behind the World 4 Dressrosa story arc. If you try to enter Luffy's evolution stage without clearing the arc, the stage will be locked and your stamina will be refunded. Most players clear the arc naturally while leveling their first carry, so this is rarely a real blocker.

Is it worth evolving Sukuna before Luffy in Anime Vanguards?

It depends on your team comp, but most players should evolve Luffy first because Sukuna's evolution costs roughly twice the gold and Cursed Bones. Luffy's evolution also farms a chunk of the Cursed Bones you need for Sukuna, so doing Luffy first cuts the total Sukuna grind by about 40 percent. The only reason to flip the order is if you already have a maxed Luffy from a friend's roster and need a personal carry for late content.

How do I farm evolution materials faster in Anime Vanguards?

Run the shared evolution material stages during their boosted events, which roughly double the drop rate for Spirit Shards and Cursed Bones. Bring a friend with a drop-boost passive if your friend list has one, and always spend your full stamina pool before resetting for the day, because leftover stamina does not carry over. The Evolution Raid daily also gives a small chunk of Evo Tokens, so missing a day sets your token grind back by 24 hours.

Are evolved units necessary for Infinite mode in Anime Vanguards?

Evolved units are not strictly required for Infinite mode, but they are strongly recommended because the difficulty curve assumes you have at least two fully evolved carries. A team of three unevolved five-stars can clear the early Infinite stages, but you will hit a wall around stage 15 to 20 where enemy HP outscales your damage. Evolving at least Dio and one other top-tier unit is the most cost-effective way to push past that wall.